The Warriors have conditioned themselves to these different outbursts over the years because they know that it\u2019s all part of the package that comes with having Green as a figurehead of the team. They also know that Green, for all his public missteps, still offers the group its best chance to win each night because of the skills he provides.<\/p>\n
The real issue for the Warriors isn\u2019t that Green created another scene in Monday\u2019s game; it\u2019s that the skills that were once so sharp and consistent every night have started to diminish. The reality is, the Warriors have to accept that Green is not the player he used to be, and they\u2019ve got to find ways to maximize the best areas he can still help them.<\/p>\n
In many ways, the variance between the high and low points that Green still provides mirror those of the 15-15 Warriors as a whole. Green can still play at a level that is as high as any player in the game on the defensive end \u2014 he just can\u2019t reach that level night after night anymore. It\u2019s what makes his decrease in production on the offensive end even more noticeable.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a fact backed up by the numbers.<\/p>\n
On a basic level, Green has fewer field goals made (72) than he does turnovers (75) and personal fouls (80). What\u2019s just as alarming for the Warriors is the drop in Green\u2019s offensive production through the first 30 games of the season. According to Basketball-Reference.com, roughly 59.1 percent of Green\u2019s field goal attempts are 3-pointers. Over the first 13 years of his career, that percentage was 36.8. Green is shooting just 32.7 percent from beyond the arc this season, which is in line with his career 32 percent average from distance, but teams are giving him more space than ever from the outside, daring him to shoot. Green is only getting to the free-throw line on 14.8 percent of his possessions, which is on track for the lowest of his career.<\/p>\n
This season, Green is averaging 8.1 points a game, his lowest since averaging 7.5 points a game during the Warriors\u2019 last title run in the 2021-22 season. The fact that Green is only averaging 27 minutes a game this season \u2014 his lowest total since he averaged 21.9 minutes a game in the 2013-14 season as a second-year player, when he was mostly coming off the bench \u2014 is a recognition from the Warriors of two difficult truths. First, at 35 years old, Green\u2019s body is starting to show more wear and tear. He\u2019s dealt with a lingering foot issue all year that the organization continues to monitor. Second, as reliant as the group is on Green for his defensive prowess, his offensive struggles leave a wider hole than ever. It\u2019s part of the reason Kerr has rotated so many different players in and out of the lineup while searching for combinations that work.<\/p>\n
But the Warriors are still reliant on Green\u2019s defense to help set the tone each night. Curry recently said the 2016-17 Defensive Player of the Year is a \u201ccheat code\u201d on that end and is still a key to setting up the Warriors\u2019 offense because of how strong a defender he remains. But Green has been turning the ball over at a higher rate this season. His 3.1 turnovers a game are his highest number since he turned the ball over an average of 3.2 times a game in the 2015-16 season. The difference is that in that year, the same year the Warriors won an NBA-record 73 regular-season games, Green was averaging a career-high 14 points a game in 34.7 minutes a night, which also remains a career high.<\/p>\n
The Warriors give up almost a full point less (109.9 points per 100 possessions over his 649 minutes played) compared to when Green is off the floor (110.7 points per 100 possessions over the 796 minutes when he sits). Opponents shoot 45.1 percent from the field when Green plays and 46.6 percent from the field when he doesn\u2019t. Only Warriors big man Quinten Post has more contested shots (227) than Green\u2019s 193. The difference is that Post has played in six more games this season as Green has missed time because of that lingering foot issue and, more recently, a team-excused absence.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/GettyImages-2213813490-1-1024x683.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\n Draymond Green and Quinten Post celebrate a play against the Timberwolves. (David Berding \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n
Where Green continues to shine the most is when the Warriors play a game with something at stake, a game where Green takes on a personal challenge on the defensive end. In two games against the San Antonio Spurs this season, Green held Spurs big man Victor Wembanyama to 8-for-21 shooting from the field. Green also held Alperen \u015eeng\u00fcn (5-for-12) and Pascal Siakam (1-for-5) when squared up against those opposing All-Stars.<\/p>\n
Given the offensive decline and the foot problem, the safest play for Kerr is perhaps to conserve Green as much as possible for another potential playoff push. It\u2019s a gamble that he can\u2019t afford to make with Curry and Jimmy Butler because of the offensive responsibility each man carries every night.<\/p>\n
Both Kerr and Curry mentioned after Saturday\u2019s win over the Phoenix Suns how important Green remains in setting up the offense \u2014 the pick-and-rolls, the dribble handoffs he creates. There is a trust the group still feels when he\u2019s out there that he can clean up his teammates\u2019 mistakes, especially on the defensive end. The Warriors average 17.2 second-chance points per 100 possessions when he plays and just 12.9 second-chance points when he sits. But while it\u2019s clear the Warriors are forced to play a different style without Green, a more cautious one, it\u2019s an adjustment that is worth gambling on, given two figures: The Warriors rank third<\/a> in the league in defensive rating, according to NBA.com, and they rank 21st in offensive rating. The flaws that have crept into Green\u2019s offensive repertoire outweigh the positives that he brings to the floor on defense, at least as the Warriors try to gain ground in the dog days of the regular season.<\/p>\n The intangible part of Green\u2019s game, the one that Kerr and Curry have highlighted through the years and undoubtedly part of the reason they played off Green\u2019s latest transgression Monday, remains clear. Green serves as the big-brother protector for the rest of the group. The Warriors know that for all his fire, some of which can burn them as it did when he left the bench, Green is still the player who can elicit fear into opponents with the way he plays defense. It\u2019s why they have been so willing to look the other way after the laundry list of mistakes Green has made during his tenure in the Bay.<\/p>\n \u201cIt makes a dramatic difference,\u201d Kerr said prior to Green\u2019s return to the lineup on Dec. 14 in Portland. \u201cDraymond remains one of the great defenders in the league. One of the very best, if not the best, defender that I\u2019ve ever seen.\u201d<\/p>\n But that\u2019s also the reason Kerr should look for even more breaks for Green throughout the season. Green\u2019s minutes are the lowest they\u2019ve been in over a decade, but maybe part of the solution is for Kerr to lower that number even more in advance of the Warriors making another run later in the year. The problem the team has once again created for itself, however, is that by losing so many early games, they\u2019ve fallen into a hole in the middle of the Western Conference standings that will be more difficult to climb out of later. The difference now is that they can sustain more time without Green in the lineup than at any other point in his tenure because the biggest issues the Warriors have 30 games into the season aren\u2019t defensive issues; they are offensive ones.<\/p>\n In that same answer that night in Portland, Kerr described how Green\u2019s return changed the way the group played offensively and how lineups would be altered as Kerr and the Warriors continue to tinker with combinations. In this case, the numbers reveal what the Warriors have known for several years: They have to find a way to keep Green engaged each night to continue to bring out the best in his game.<\/p>\n Green has been asked several times about playing so much at center and how that may impact his production. If the Warriors could get anything from veteran big man Al Horford in the second half of the season, theoretically, that could also take some of the defensive burden off Green\u2019s shoulders \u2014 but that wouldn\u2019t fix the offensive issues that continue to fester.<\/p>\n There\u2019s a section of the Warriors fan base that believes the best course of action would be to trade Green and let the Warriors try to find a new identity behind the offensive greatness of Curry and the offensive stability of Jimmy Butler. But the rest of the league knows that Green, at 35, isn\u2019t the player he once was and wouldn\u2019t yield the same value in return. Green is likely better within the Warriors system than he would be anywhere else because he is part of the fabric that makes the system work at its best.<\/p>\n The challenge for the Warriors as they try to move forward from this latest Green distraction is to find ways to address the real issue at hand: Green\u2019s decision to leave the bench and disengage from his teammates during Monday\u2019s game isn\u2019t the real problem. The real obstacle is that Green has become more of an offensive hindrance than a help on most nights.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN FRANCISCO \u2014 The Golden State Warriors have a Draymond problem \u2014 but it may not be the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":367820,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[2243,355,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-367819","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba","8":"tag-golden-state-warriors","9":"tag-nba","10":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/367819","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=367819"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/367819\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/367820"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=367819"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=367819"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=367819"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}